Current Speakers

Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa is UNDP Assistant Administrator, and Director, Regional Bureau for Africa at the rank of Assistant Secretary General. She leads over 4000 staff implementing a $1.2 billion annual development programme in 46 African countries. She is deeply passionate about equality, inclusion, reshaping narratives on Africa, mobilizing for youth entrepreneurs and the dignity of Africa’s people. Her vision “Africa’s Promise: The UNDP Renewed Strategic Offer in Africa” employs an opportunity lens to development practice in Africa. She established the Africa Influencers for Development (AI4D) to ensure that Africa’s Money works for Africa’s Development; the Africa Young Women Leaders Initiative; Africa Innovates Magazine; and the Africa Borderlands Centre. She leads UNDP Africa socioeconomic response and recovery from COVID 19 and (Co) Chairs the UN Africa Regional Collaborative Platform which oversees implementation of the Secretary General’s regional UN reform. She spent 10 years as UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Lesotho. As Chief (Africa) at UN OCHA, she led response to natural disasters, emergencies and transitions to recovery. Before the UN, Ms. Eziakonwa worked for “Initiatives of Change” serving as international coordinator of its’ “Creators of Peace – Women’s Initiative”. She is an alumni of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Executive Programme and has a Bachelors in Education from University of Benin Nigeria.

Alexandra-Maria Bocşe (born 1987) completed a PhD in Politics and International Studies at University of Cambridge (award ceremony in 2017), at the top of her class. She was the beneficiary of an academic excellence scholarship during her PhD by Trinity College Cambridge. In 2011, she completed an MPhil in International Relations at the same institution, Cambridge, with a Distinction in a dissertation on international environmental politics. Previously, she graduated from her BA in Political Science at the University of Bucharest, Department of Political Science (Romanian section) as a Valedictorian.

In 2016, Alexandra-Maria Bocșe joined the Department of International Relations at London School of Economics and for the next four year continued here her research and teaching on European and International Energy, Environmental and Climate Affairs. In 2015-2016, she was a Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, through a Fulbright-Schuman Award. Here she worked especially on transatlantic energy and environmental relations. Previously she was a doctoral researcher and coordinator of the European Centre at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, and an Associate Editor at the Cambridge Review of International Affairs. Overall, Alexandra-Maria Bocșe has over seven years of experience teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels European Politics, Global Energy and Environmental Politics, and International Affairs at University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, and King’s College London. Since 2011, she also worked in analysis/advisory roles or provided advice to the European Union, governments of EU member states and intergovernmental organizations, in recent years particularly on energy and environmental politics and economics.

Her research and analysis portfolio includes various policy and academic publications in leading journals in the fields of climate and energy (Climate Policy, International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics and Energy Research and Social Science) or International Relations (Geopolitics, European Security, etc.). Alexandra also single authored a book on international energy and environmental policy networks to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in autumn 2020.

Alexandra-Maria Bocşe was appointed State Adviser on the 1^st of September 2020.

Alexandre Meira da Rosa is Chief Strategy Officer for IDB Invest. As CSO, he leads the development and implementation of the institution’s corporate strategy and drives high-priority initiatives with upstream interventions. Managing a team of cross-functional experts in development effectiveness, impact evaluation, business strategic planning, environmental and social safeguards, climate change, sustainability, gender, and public-private partnerships he advances the strategic roadmap of the organization in line with its future vision. He is also a member of the Executive Leadership team and advisor to the CEO.

Alexandre’s more than two decades of leadership experience in public and private sectors include six years as Vice President of Countries at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) where he was responsible for defining, coordinating, and supervising IDB’s operational programs and country strategies, managing concessional resources, and strengthening cooperation with the civil society.

Prior to his tenure as Vice President, he was Manager of the Infrastructure and Energy Sector at IDB for four years. Under his direction, this sector became IDB’s most important portfolio based in volume. Alexandre led a team of 190 professionals in 26 countries and was responsible for structuring and ratifying approvals while redefining the Bank’s strategies in the Energy, Transportation, Agriculture, Tourism, Natural Disasters, Water and Sanitation, and Climate Change sectors.

Before joining the IDB, he was Deputy Minister and Economic Advisor to Brazil’s Minister of Planning. Among other functions related to Brazil’s economic policy, he supervised investments with international financing at three government levels and oversaw the national policy related to multilateral banks. He also served as Non-Executive Director at large finance and energy sector companies in Brazil.

Alexandre holds a law degree from the Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais and a graduate Diploma in Finance from the University of California, Berkeley. He has a master’s degree in Economics from the New School for Social Research in New York and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Ali Alshehhi is leading ADNOC’s Panorama Digital Command Center. His work includes exploring and unlocking value from data. The data insights provided help facilitate corporate strategy and decision-making. Dr. Ali career highlights include the development and commissioning of Panorama – which collects and analyzes live operational data, business and HSE data from across the ADNOC Group so that practitioners and decision-makers can make data-informed decisions – He also was the commissioning leader of Habshan-5, a $7-billion gas processing plant. He also worked on financing energy projects in the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and its member countries.

Allyson Anderson Book is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Baker Hughes. In this role she oversees Baker Hughes’ energy transition strategy by driving sustainable operations, supporting commercial energy transition solutions for customers, and ensuring market creation of these solutions via stakeholder engagement and policy development.

In 2021 alone, she was recognized by Petroleum Economist as among Top 10 Women Leading Energy Transition in Sustainability, by Oil & Gas Investor as among 25 Influential Women in Energy, and by Hart Energy for its ESG Champion of Year Award.

Before joining Baker Hughes, she served as the executive director of the American Geosciences Institute, which represents more than 250,000 geoscientists and focuses on increasing public awareness of the role geosciences play in society’s use of resources. Prior to that, she held several academic, policy and senior government positions, including teaching at Georgetown University, working for the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and serving as the associate director of strategic engagement of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) at the U.S. Department of the Interior. She began her career as a geoscientist for ExxonMobil.

She holds bachelor’s degrees in geology and music from the University of Northern Iowa, and a master’s degree in geology from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

The Honorable Amarjeet Sohi is the Mayor of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He immigrated to Canada at the age of 17, worked as a bus driver for the Edmonton Transit System and was an active member of the Transit Employee Union. He was elected to Edmonton City Council in 2007, serving for eight years before being elected as a Member of Parliament for Edmonton’s Mill Woods riding. During that time, he served as Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources from 2018 to 2019 and Minister of Infrastructure and Communities from 2015 to 2018. On 18 October 2021, he became the first person of a racialized minority to be elected Mayor of Edmonton.

Amish joined AVEVA in 2010 and was appointed Executive Vice President for AVEVA’s Engineering Business in April 2021. Prior to his appointment, Amish has held senior leadership roles in sales and operations within the AVEVA Group. In his current role, Amish is responsible for leading the cross functional business performance of the Engineering Business, which includes process & simulation, engineering & design, project execution, information management and value chain optimization software solutions. Amish has over 25 years of industrial experience globally within the energy, chemicals and power industries. Prior to joining AVEVA, he has held sales and product management leadership roles at Honeywell and Aspen Technology and began his career as a Plant Operations Engineer at JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation refineries in Japan. He holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Calgary.